A blog about the Dodgers and Baseball. My thoughts on everything that has to do with the old game, autographs, baseball cards, bobbleheads, contests, upcoming appearances, books, etc. Enjoy the pictures, videos, opinions and contests.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Jackie Robinson Day at Dodger Stadium

The Dodgers will highlight MLB’s league-wide tribute to Robinson’s legacy with an extensive celebration on Jackie Robinson Day at Dodger Stadium tomorrow (7:10 p.m. vs. Padres). All auto and stadium gates will open early at 4:40 p.m. Pre-game ceremonies will begin at 6:50 p.m.

Dodger Stadium will be decorated with prominently placed 42 logos on the pitching mound, dugout, near the foul pole and baselines. There will also be Jackie Robinson Day jeweled bases and lineup cards and a special tribute video that will be shown in-stadium. The Dodgers’ uniformed personnel will all wear number 42. The Dodgers will be joined by Jackie’s wife Rachel, Sharon and Jackie’s son David Robinson. The Dodgers will also pay tribute to Dodger Hall of Fame catcher and three-time NL MVP Award winner Roy Campanella and Dodger Special Advisor to the Chairman, 1956 NL MVP and Cy Young Award Winner Don Newcombe.

The 17-member choir of Dodger owner Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s church home, West Angeles Church of God In Christ, will sing the national anthem. Kelley Jakle, the great-granddaughter of Branch Rickey, Brooklyn Dodgers’ General Manager who signed Jackie Robinson, will sing “God Bless America.”

The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Academy Award® nominee Harrison Ford who stars in Warner Bros. Pictures “42” as Brooklyn Dodgers’ GM Branch Rickey. Sharon Robinson will officially start the game with “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball!”

Tomorrow’s Veterans of the Game are two members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators in the U.S. military, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Lumpkin of Los Angeles and Major Levy Thorn Hill of Virginia.